Video: Lindsey Graham versus Hagel over his “Israeli lobby” comments

posted at 3:11 pm on January 31, 2013 by Allahpundit

You’ve already seen a bunch of video of Hagel today. Get ready to see a bunch more. As I’m writing this, I’m hearing on Twitter that Ted Cruz is destroying him over America supposedly being the “world’s bully.” This isn’t a confirmation hearing, it’s target practice.

The beauty of this clip isn’t just the spectacle of Graham making Hagel eat his own shinola. It’s the fact that 90 percent of the reason the left has gone along with this nomination is to see Hagel push back on questions exactly like this one. He was the guy who was going to speak truth to power by standing up to the neocon warmongers and their “Zionist” puppet-masters — and here he is, rolling over. You could almost hear liberals screaming at their TV sets when Graham asked him to name a dumb move taken by the U.S. at the behest of the Israel lobby, “Say ‘Iraq’, Chuck! Say ‘Iraq!’” But Hagel can’t make that move. The Democrats will happily confirm a lightweight who’s unprepared for this hearing and unqualified to lead the Pentagon because he’s useful as a Republican fig leaf for Obama’s upcoming defense cuts. They won’t confirm a guy whose unapologetic conspiratorial mumbling about Israel’s hidden hand or whatever might alienate Jewish voters, and Hagel knows it. So he’s lying here, and not just about this either, purely in the interest of getting confirmed. Here’s what it looks like when Glenn Greenwald’s heart breaks:

It’s hard to be forceful, articulate and coherent when your whole tactic is to run away from your beliefs in exchange for power #Hagel

Breaking on Hot Air

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.